This is a repository for all cool scientific discussion and fascination. Scientific facts, theories, and overall cool scientific stuff that you'd like to share with others. Stuff that makes you smile and wonder at the amazing shit going on around us, that most people don't notice.

Hmm...then maybe you should consider the fact that we are in a "controlled" free fall towards the sun!

And our entire galaxy is on a collision course with the Andromeda galaxy at 200,000 mph. And our Local Group of galaxies is also on a collision course with the middle of the Virgo cluster at 1 million mph. Even our entire Virgo supercluster of galaxies is hurdling toward the Great Atractor at 14 million mph.

We're totally ****ed, and we only have maybe 100 million years to figure this shit out...

And our entire galaxy is on a collision course with the Andromeda galaxy at 200,000 mph. And our Local Group of galaxies is also on a collision course with the middle of the Virgo cluster at 1 million mph. Even our entire Virgo supercluster of galaxies is hurdling toward the Great Atractor at 14 million mph.

We're totally ****ed, and we only have maybe 100 million years to figure this shit out...

Circulating blood cells collected from the tail of a donor mouse were used to produce the clone, a team at the Riken BioResource Center reports in the journal Biology of Reproduction.

The female mouse lived a normal lifespan and could give birth to young, say the researchers.

Scientists at a linked institute recently created nearly 600 exact genetic copies of one mouse.

Mice have been cloned from several different sources of donor cells, including white blood cells found in the lymph nodes, bone marrow and liver.

The Japanese research group investigated whether circulating blood cells could also be used for cloning.

Their aim was to find an easily available source of donor cells to clone scientifically valuable strains of laboratory mice.

The team, led by Atsuo Ogura, of Riken BioResource Center in Tsukuba, took blood from the tail of a donor mouse, isolated the white blood cells, and used the nuclei for cloning experiments, using the same technique that produced Dolly the sheep in Edinburgh.

The process, known as somatic cell nuclear transfer, involves transferring the nucleus from an adult body cell - such as a blood or skin cell - into an unfertilised egg that has had its nucleus removed.

Reporting their findings in the US journal, Biology of Reproduction, the scientists said the study "demonstrated for the first time that mice could be cloned using the nuclei of peripheral blood cells".

Researchers have found that two per cent of the population have a genetic variant that means they do not suffer from under arm body odour yet more three quarters of them continue to use scents.

The 'cultural norm' in Britain is to use deodorant every day whether body odour is a problem or not, the researchers said. Where as elsewhere in the world most people with the genetic variant are aware that they do not smell and do not use deodorant, they said.

According to Euromonitor, the deodorant industry was worth £604m in 2011, representing a potential saving of over £12m to the two per cent of UK adults who don’t produce underarm odour if they shunned deodorants.

Only around five per cent of people do produce body odour do not use deodorant, the researches suggested.

The gene variant is known as ABCC11 and the study authors said that the consistency of earwax is a good indication of those who have it. People who have dry earwax as opposed to sticky earwax are highly likely to have the ABCC11 variant and therefore do not produce under arm body odour.

The research was carried out on a sample of 6,495 women who were part of the wider Children of the 90s study at the University of Bristol.
The researchers found that about two per cent of mothers carried the gene variant.

They discovered that almost one in four of people with the gene do not use deodorant, suggesting they are aware of their special status and do not waste the money.

The findings were published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology
Lead author Professor Ian Day said: "An important finding of this study relates to those individuals who, according to their genotype, do not produce underarm odour.

"One quarter of these individuals must consciously or subconsciously recognise that they do not produce odour and do not use deodorant, whereas most odour producers do use deodorant.

"However, three quarters of those who do not produce an odour regularly use deodorants; we believe that these people simply follow socio-cultural norms. This contrasts with the situation in North East Asia, where most people do not need to use deodorant and they don’t."

Co-author of the paper, Dr Santiago Rodriguez added: "These findings have some potential for using genetics in the choice of personal hygiene products. A simple gene test might strengthen self-awareness and save some unnecessary purchases and chemical exposures for non-odour producers."
Sweat glands produce sweat which, combined with bacteria, result in underarm odour.

The production of odour depends on the existence of an active ABCC11 gene. However, the ABCC11 gene is known to be inactive in some people.

Born with a backwards foot, Buttercup could only walk in great pain — until his owner came up with a novel idea for a duckie prosthetic.

When he was born in a high school biology lab in November last year, little Buttercup wasn't like all the other ducklings: his left foot was turned backwards, making getting around a bit of a trial for the little guy. Although his carer at the school worked on turning the foot around the right way, it couldn't quite get there.

"With his deformed foot, he would have been in pain and had constant cuts and foot infections walking on the side of it even at our sanctuary here; and foot infections on these guys is always a serious matter," Garey said.

After Buttercup had his foot amputated in February, Garey — a software engineer by trade — started looking into options for a replacement limb. Sure, Buttercup could have a peg leg; but what if Garey could replace the entire foot?

After shopping around for a service, he found 3D printing company NovaCopy, which agreed to donate its services to helping Buttercup walk again. Together, using photos of the left foot of Buttercup's sister Minnie, they designed a brand new left foot for Buttercup.

Because the foot needs to be flexible, the usual plastics used in 3D printing aren't viable. Instead, NovaCopy printed a mould, which will be used to cast a silicone foot for the lucky duck, creating several iterations of the design to come up with the perfect one. It will be attached to his foot via a silicone sheath.

"This version will have a stretchy silicone sock instead of the finger trap, which will roll up on his leg, be inserted into the foot and then have a fastener in the bottom," Garey said. "If you saw Dolphin Tail, this material is similar to the WintersGel that they used." WintersGel is a prosthetic liner that grips the amputated limb.

Buttercup, currently walking around on his stump, is due to get his new foot very soon, with the final design arriving in the next two weeks. You can follow Buttercup's story on his Facebook page.

The sun produces a plasma of charged particles called the solar wind, which get blown supersonically from its atmosphere at more than 1 million km/h. Some of these ions are thrown outward by as much as 10 percent the speed of light. These particles also carry the solar magnetic field.

The Uranium-235 and -238 we use in modern nuclear fission reactors are humanity's single most energy-dense fuel source (1,546,000,000 MJ/L), but that potent power potential comes at a steep price—and not just during natural disasters. Its radioactive plutonium byproducts remain lethally irradiated for millennia. That's why one pioneering Nordic company is developing an alternative fuel that doesn't produce it.

When uranium is used in a conventional Light Water Reactor, it's converted into plutonium (and if the U238 isotope is used, the result can be fissable Pu239). Even without the danger of weapons-grade plutonium proliferating from a country's stores of radioactive waste, there's not really an easy way to dispose of the byproduct. Our best answer so far has been burying it and hoping for the best. Instead, Thor Energy—a subsidiary of the Oslo-based Scatec group—wants to burn up that store of plutonium to power the very reactors that created it. All its system needs is the addition of thorium. A lot of it.

Luckily, thorium (Th232) is an abundant—albeit slightly radioactive—element. It's estimated to be four times as common as uranium and 500 times as much as U238. It's so common that it's currently treated like a byproduct in the rare-earth mining industry. Problem is, naturally occurring thorium doesn't contain enough of its fissable isotope (Th231) to maintain criticality. But that's where the plutonium comes in. What Thor energy did was mix ceramic thorium oxide (ThO2) with plutonium oxide (nuclear waste) in a 90:10 ratio to create thorium-MOX (mixed-oxide). The thorium oxide acts as a matrix that holds the plutonium in place as its used up.

This stuff could very well revolutionize nuclear power. Thorium-MOX can be formed into rods and used in current generation (Gen II) nuclear reactor with minimal retrofitting. Ceramic thorium has a higher thermal conductivity and melting point than uranium, meaning it can operate at a lower (and safer) internal pellet temperature with less chance of a meltdown, fewer fission gas emissions, and extended fuel cycles.

Most importantly, thorium doesn't convert into plutonium—precisely the opposite, in fact. That is, the process consumes plutonium. We could be looking at a means of not only halting the growth American nuclear waste sites but actually reducing our stores of plutonium while simultaneously reducing the danger of nuclear proliferation. Sure, the thorium system does create waste of i's own, but irradiated thorium doesn't oxidize and remains more stable as it decays. What more could you want?

Thor Energy is currently testing the new technology on the small scale. A prototype reactor will power a paper mill in the town of Halden, Norway for the next five years. If the fuel proves to be commercially viable during that test, we could see a sea change in nuclear power by the end of the decade.

The Uranium-235 and -238 we use in modern nuclear fission reactors are humanity's single most energy-dense fuel source (1,546,000,000 MJ/L), but that potent power potential comes at a steep price—and not just during natural disasters. Its radioactive plutonium byproducts remain lethally irradiated for millennia. That's why one pioneering Nordic company is developing an alternative fuel that doesn't produce it.

When uranium is used in a conventional Light Water Reactor, it's converted into plutonium (and if the U238 isotope is used, the result can be fissable Pu239). Even without the danger of weapons-grade plutonium proliferating from a country's stores of radioactive waste, there's not really an easy way to dispose of the byproduct. Our best answer so far has been burying it and hoping for the best. Instead, Thor Energy—a subsidiary of the Oslo-based Scatec group—wants to burn up that store of plutonium to power the very reactors that created it. All its system needs is the addition of thorium. A lot of it.

Luckily, thorium (Th232) is an abundant—albeit slightly radioactive—element. It's estimated to be four times as common as uranium and 500 times as much as U238. It's so common that it's currently treated like a byproduct in the rare-earth mining industry. Problem is, naturally occurring thorium doesn't contain enough of its fissable isotope (Th231) to maintain criticality. But that's where the plutonium comes in. What Thor energy did was mix ceramic thorium oxide (ThO2) with plutonium oxide (nuclear waste) in a 90:10 ratio to create thorium-MOX (mixed-oxide). The thorium oxide acts as a matrix that holds the plutonium in place as its used up.

This stuff could very well revolutionize nuclear power. Thorium-MOX can be formed into rods and used in current generation (Gen II) nuclear reactor with minimal retrofitting. Ceramic thorium has a higher thermal conductivity and melting point than uranium, meaning it can operate at a lower (and safer) internal pellet temperature with less chance of a meltdown, fewer fission gas emissions, and extended fuel cycles.

Most importantly, thorium doesn't convert into plutonium—precisely the opposite, in fact. That is, the process consumes plutonium. We could be looking at a means of not only halting the growth American nuclear waste sites but actually reducing our stores of plutonium while simultaneously reducing the danger of nuclear proliferation. Sure, the thorium system does create waste of i's own, but irradiated thorium doesn't oxidize and remains more stable as it decays. What more could you want?

Thor Energy is currently testing the new technology on the small scale. A prototype reactor will power a paper mill in the town of Halden, Norway for the next five years. If the fuel proves to be commercially viable during that test, we could see a sea change in nuclear power by the end of the decade.

The Uranium-235 and -238 we use in modern nuclear fission reactors are humanity's single most energy-dense fuel source (1,546,000,000 MJ/L), but that potent power potential comes at a steep price—and not just during natural disasters. Its radioactive plutonium byproducts remain lethally irradiated for millennia. That's why one pioneering Nordic company is developing an alternative fuel that doesn't produce it.

When uranium is used in a conventional Light Water Reactor, it's converted into plutonium (and if the U238 isotope is used, the result can be fissable Pu239). Even without the danger of weapons-grade plutonium proliferating from a country's stores of radioactive waste, there's not really an easy way to dispose of the byproduct. Our best answer so far has been burying it and hoping for the best. Instead, Thor Energy—a subsidiary of the Oslo-based Scatec group—wants to burn up that store of plutonium to power the very reactors that created it. All its system needs is the addition of thorium. A lot of it.

Luckily, thorium (Th232) is an abundant—albeit slightly radioactive—element. It's estimated to be four times as common as uranium and 500 times as much as U238. It's so common that it's currently treated like a byproduct in the rare-earth mining industry. Problem is, naturally occurring thorium doesn't contain enough of its fissable isotope (Th231) to maintain criticality. But that's where the plutonium comes in. What Thor energy did was mix ceramic thorium oxide (ThO2) with plutonium oxide (nuclear waste) in a 90:10 ratio to create thorium-MOX (mixed-oxide). The thorium oxide acts as a matrix that holds the plutonium in place as its used up.

This stuff could very well revolutionize nuclear power. Thorium-MOX can be formed into rods and used in current generation (Gen II) nuclear reactor with minimal retrofitting. Ceramic thorium has a higher thermal conductivity and melting point than uranium, meaning it can operate at a lower (and safer) internal pellet temperature with less chance of a meltdown, fewer fission gas emissions, and extended fuel cycles.

Most importantly, thorium doesn't convert into plutonium—precisely the opposite, in fact. That is, the process consumes plutonium. We could be looking at a means of not only halting the growth American nuclear waste sites but actually reducing our stores of plutonium while simultaneously reducing the danger of nuclear proliferation. Sure, the thorium system does create waste of i's own, but irradiated thorium doesn't oxidize and remains more stable as it decays. What more could you want?

Thor Energy is currently testing the new technology on the small scale. A prototype reactor will power a paper mill in the town of Halden, Norway for the next five years. If the fuel proves to be commercially viable during that test, we could see a sea change in nuclear power by the end of the decade.